The present disclosure relates to retailing methods, systems, and computer program products involving the sale of goods and/or services to a shopper and, more particularly, to methods, systems, and computer program products for processing payment when goods and/or services are purchased by a shopper.
Retailers with brick and mortar stores typically have checkout lanes or checkout locations where shoppers present their items or identify one or more services that they wish to purchase. Shoppers typically pay for their purchases using cash, gift card, debit card, credit card, or charge card, which may be issued through the retailer, bank, or other type of financial institution. With the proliferation of intelligent mobile devices, shoppers may use a digital wallet to pay for purchases both on-line and in a retail store environment. A digital wallet refers to an electronic device that can communicate payment information to the merchant. The payment information may include identification information for checking accounts, debit card accounts, credit card accounts, pre-paid gift cards, and the like. In addition to including payment information, a digital wallet may also include information that can be used to authenticate a user's identity. For example, a digital wallet may include such information as a shopper's driver's license, insurance information, store loyalty card(s), store/bank reward(s) accounts, and the like. A shopper's identification credentials along with a desired payment account can be transferred to a merchant using a bar code scanner, Near Field Communication (NFC), Short Message Service (SMS), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or other suitable technology. A digital wallet may include security software to encrypt the financial information and personal identity information used during a transaction. Application developers have developed digital wallet applications that run on various types of smartphone platforms; such as the iOS and Android platforms.